Heavy rains earlier in the month forced city waste treatment plant workers to discharge water directly from the sediment pond at the city’s waste water treatment plant to the creek, city superintendent Russ Dorman told city council members during the monthly committees meeting on Feb. 19.

“We got a little over six inches of rain in two days at the treatment plant, so we had to let water out to keep it from running out elsewhere,” he said. “The discharge was within our permit limits, but the EPD still classifies it as a spill since it hadn’t been treated.”

Dorman said he did not think the release would result in fines by the state, but the city is having to secure water samples for testing from the creek and will have to continue to do so for up to a year.

Dorman said the pond level was being lowered last week in anticipation of more heavy rain over the weekend and that he did not believe there would be a problem.

“We’ve taken this as a learning experience and will try to keep the level down when heavy rain is expected,” he said.

Council members David Tufts and Benny Gray Jr. also suggested looking into having the pond dredged – something that hasn’t been done in a number of years – to increase its capacity.